To: The Director
Conservation Incentives and Design Section
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities
PO Box 787
Canberra, ACT, 2601
Wildlife Corridors Act Comments
Dear Director,
This is a submission prepared in my private capacity in response to a specific part of the Draft
National Wildlife Corridors (NWC) Plan, the proposed Wildlife Corridors Act. It is one of two
submissions I have submitted for the draft plan. The other responds to the overall NWC Plan.
My qualifications to provide the comments herein are based on my international expert
advisory role on connectivity conservation management; my role as lead author and editor of
IUCN’s 2010 Connectivity Conservation Management book; my lead author work of a
“background report” on connectivity conservation for Australia’s 2011 State of the
Environment Report; and, my role as co-chair for the Social and Institutional Working Group of
the National Wildlife Corridors Plan Advisory Group.
I strongly believe that Australia needs a Wildlife Corridors Act and I am very supportive of the
proposals made by the draft NWC plan. I understand that the legislation will not include
regulations and I concur with this position. I have prepared my notes in some detail and they
respond directly to the key matters raised by the draft plan. I would be pleased to discuss any
points I have made with you.
Yours faithfully
Dr Graeme Worboys
16th April 2012
Australian
Wildlife
Corridors Act
(the Act)- Issues
Response
Important considerations
Fundamental question
Should a Wildlife
Corridors Act (the
Act) be
developed?
I strongly advise
the Australian
Government to
develop a Wildlife
Corridors Act
The Act:
1. Is desirable given it confirms NWC’s as a nationally important
conservation landuse; it establishes legal status and integrity for
NWC’s through national listing; it establishes an enduring
conservation legacy through active, planned management and it
provides evaluation mechanisms that demonstrate collective
voluntary conservation efforts positively contributing to biodiversity
conservation in Australia.
2. Helps national climate change responses: The Act facilitates the
selection of strategic corridors that can interconnect protected
areas and areas of biodiversity richness and provide opportunities
for the poleward; up-mountain and refugia area species movements
that will help minimise species loss in a climate change world. Active
on-ground management of corridors helps minimise threats and
maximises resilience to climate change.
3. Responds to people’s needs. Individuals, organisations,
communities and governments have already established large and
small corridors in locations across Australia. However, people are
seeking more formal recognition of this landuse.
4. For ecosystem services the Act through NWC criteria recognises
NWC’s as an investment in conserving natural ecosystem health at a
landscape scale.
5. For conserving biodiversity the Act, through NWC criteria
provides a new, strategic community based, voluntary conservation
response for Australia beyond the National Reserve System. NWC’s
may be continental in scale and may interconnect an archipelago of
protected areas, biodiversity hotspots and poorly conserved
bioregions.
6. For international treaty obligations of the Commonwealth,
NWC’s enhance the conservation resilience of natural World
Heritage Sites and Ramsar sites and contribute to the conservation
of flyways of species subject to Treaties such as Chamba and Jamba.
Purposes of the Act as described by the draft NWC plan
To define the
policy intent for a
national network
of corridors (p26)
This provision of a
future Act is
critical
This section could include:
 A definition of NWC’s
 A definition of a national network of wildlife corridors
 The biodiversity conservation function of NWC’s and the
national network of wildlife corridors
 Respect for property rights, working landscapes, Indigenous
landowners and traditional state and territory responsibilities
 The voluntary status of participation
 The Australian Government facilitation role only
To define the
broad design
This provision for
a future Act
Design principles for a national network of wildlife corridors should
account for key ecosystem functions and biodiversity conservation
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intent for a
national network
of wildlife
corridors (p26)
enables the
strategic planning
for a national
network of
wildlife corridors,
including National
Wildlife Corridors.
This section of
the Act is (again)
very important.
responsibilities including:
 The Targets of Australia’s Biodiversity Conservation Strategy
2010-2030
 Australia’s international Migratory bird agreements CHAMBA
and JAMBA
 Australia’s international commitments to World Heritage and
Ramsar sites, especially in an environment of climate change
 Meeting whole-of-continent scale ecological principles for
biodiversity conservation that are linked to corridor
establishment and management (based on Steffen et al, 2009
and Soule et al, 2006)
 Conserving biodiversity conservation hotspots, refugia areas,
poorly conserved bioregions and areas forecast to be
substantially impacted by climate change;
 Conserving areas that maintain critical ecosystem services (such
as catchments) and critical vegetation cover to protect
landscapes from wind and water soil erosion and from
catastrophic slumping
 Prioritising whole-of-corridor responses to climate change
carbon investments and restoration
 Achieving community and as appropriate, government
involvement in facilitating active corridor management to
respond to prioritised threats
Authority for the
Commonwealth
Minister of the
Environment to
declare National
Wildlife Corridors
and a nomination
and assessment
process (p26)
This provision of a
future Act
identifies that
nationally
significant
corridors will be
recognised. This
step is critical for
Australian
biodiversity
conservation.
National Wildlife Corridors should provide a strategic role in the
conservation of Australia’s biodiversity in a climate change world.
They would usually be large and should play a role in supporting
“whole-of-continent” ecological processes, international treaties,
the World Heritage Convention and the National Reserve System.
Establish criteria
for listing of a
National Wildlife
Corridor (p26)
Listing criteria are
fundamental to a
National Wildlife
Corridor and need
to be in the Act
It is recommended that criteria for listing NWC’s should be based on
the four Foundations prepared by the NWC Expert Working Group
on Social and Institutional Opportunities.
Foundation One: Strategic connectivity conservation. This includes
the intrinsic characteristics of a proposed NWC, its location, its
spatial extent and significant functional role in interconnecting
protected areas other public and private lands. The NWC Science
Expert Working Group’s principles of connectivity conservation”
that underpin the selection criteria should be used here.
Foundation Two: Integrity. This assesses the extent to which a
proposed NWC retains structural and functional connectivity in a
natural and working landscape and the extent of any existing and
forecast adverse effects such as developments on these values. A
NWC preferentially includes landscapes which are still undisturbed
but also includes degraded and disturbed lands which still
contribute to functional connectivity and areas which may be
subject to restoration.
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Foundation Three: Community involvement and corridor
management. This recognises that NWC’s are voluntary initiatives
and involve local communities and the active participation of many
sectors of society including private organisations and governments.
NWC’s are guided by a plan with clear management objectives and
priorities to deal with threats; with the success of biodiversity
conservation dependent on active on-ground and effective
conservation management.
Foundation Four: Benefits for people. NWC’s are an investment in
the health, livelihoods, local aspirations and cultural connections of
people and communities.
Describe a
process for listing
of National
Wildlife Corridors
(p26)
A clear process
for formally listing
NWC’s is needed
by the Act
There should be a formal process for the listing of National Wildlife
Corridors identified by the Act. This could include:
 A National Wildlife Corridors Council responsibility for
recommending potential NWC’s for listing to the Minister
based on:
o Public nomination of proposals
o Formal on-ground and desk-top independent
assessment of a proposal against the four Foundations
and their listing criteria
 Approval by the Minister
Establish a
National Wildlife
Corridors Council
with four key
functions (p26)
An independent
Council is
important for
progressing
connectivity
conservation in
Australia.
The four functions identified by the draft NWC Plan are supported.
It is also suggested that Council may have responsibilities for:
 Facilitating the regular revision of the NWC Plan
 From time to time recommending national priority NWC actions
to the Minister
 From time to time conducting meetings of NWC stakeholders
 Initiating NWC research
Provide a
mechanism for
annual reporting
to Parliament
The annual
reporting to
parliament is a
critical part of the
Act
The NWC reporting could be identified in the Act at three levels.
 The first level could the appropriate project allocation and
expenditure control requirements of governments and private
donors required for accounting purposes.
 The second level could be at whole-of-individual corridor level
where macro conservation targets would be assessed against
the Corridor Plan objectives and targets. These should include
biodiversity conservation outcome targets.
 The third level could be whole-of-continent level where the
combined biodiversity conservation benefits of Australia’s
strategically located NWC’s could be reported to parliament by
Council. This reporting could be facilitated by appropriate
satellite technology; analysis by Australia’s research
institutions; and, feedback from the individual NWC
organisations.
References
Soulé, M.E., Mackey, B.G., Recher, H., Williams, J., Woinarksi, J.C.Z., Driscoll, D., Dennison, W.C. and
Jones, M. (2006), ‘The Role of Connectivity in Australian Conservation’, in Connectivity
Conservation (eds) Crooks, K. and Sanjayan, M. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp649–
675
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Steffen, W. Burbidge, A.A., Hughes, L., Lindenmayer, D., Musgrave, W., Stafford Smith, M. and Werner,
P.A. (2009) Australia’s Biodiversity and Climate Change, CSIRO Publishing, Australian
Government, Canberra
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